Max Gawn said he expected rough treatment from Port Adelaide

Max Gawn says he normally revels in the kind of opposition attention Port Adelaide dished out on Saturday as the Demons consider bringing in recruit Braydon Preuss for ruck support.

Max Gawn of the Demons and Scott Lycett of the Power battle. Picture: Michael Klein.

Max Gawn says he normally revels in the kind of opposition attention Port Adelaide dished out on Saturday after the Demons were “bullied” in their shock loss.

AFL legend Jonathan Brown said Port Adelaide’s treatment of Gawn was symptomatic of “Melbourne getting bullied” in the worrying Round 1 loss.

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Melbourne’s players, still working back from a dozen off-season surgeries, were outworked by the Power as Scott Lycett and Patty Ryder double-teamed Gawn.

Co-captain Tom Jonas body-checked Gawn off the ball in the first quarter in an incident that could see the MRO dishing out a fine.

But Ken Hinkley won’t mind after the club’s pre-game plan worked perfectly.

Gawn said on Sunday the treatment wasn’t new as the Demons consider whether to play recruit Braydon Preuss in Round 2 as he works back from a minor groin injury.

“My mindset on the day is that I will take one for the team and they are going off their game to come at me,” he said.

“But that obviously didn’t work for me. They didn’t go off their game and I got off my game.

“I knew it was coming from Port Adelaide. They have done it a few times, I just didn’t handle it as well as I could.

“I usually really like it because forward line work is hard work for rucks. They get puffed and I like to get into my zone and play big minutes in the ruck.

“But Lycett and Ryder are probably going to be the best ruck combo this year until Gawn and Preuss get released,” he said laughing.

“Ryder is 2017 All-Australian and Lycett is a premiership ruckman so that combination is pretty hard to play. It will be interesting to see how they go.”

Max Gawn battles with Scott Lycett. Picture: Michael Klein

Gawn was brilliant against Lycett and Nathan Vardy in Round 22 last year but after an enormous workload was quieter in September.

Geelong tried to shadow him as he dropped into the back half in the qualifying final, while Vardy and Lycett worked to double-team him in the preliminary final.

Gawn told Seven’s GameDay the brilliant defensive performance of close mate and former teammate Jack Watts was bittersweet.

Watts put the Demons to the sword with his precise kicking and strong intercept marking but Gawn couldn’t help but be proud of the much-scrutinised No.1 pick.

“We are really close and I have rode the bumps with him,” he said.

“It’s been a challenging time for him, some of his own doing and some not.

“I don’t want this to come out wrong but I was sort of proud of the way he played yesterday.

“Even though it was to our detriment and we lost the game because of his performance.

“As a friend and as someone who has rode every bump with him I was really proud of how he played.

“I wish he didn’t play like that so we could kick more goals on him, but it was good to see.”

Originally published as Max Gawn said he expected rough treatment from Port Adelaide